Wave-stilling oil



or of olelc acid.

reamed Jan. In, less fiiiilfiu iil waynsca om lichen head van der master Netherlands, assignor to shell heyelopment Corn- San Francisco, @alii a corporation oi melaware No Drawing. Application Ellecemher d, 1934, Serial No. 355,933. Kn the Netherlands Becomher 5, 11933 e 3 iiflrslms.v (Gil. di -t). This invention pertains to the preparation of mineral oil compositions suitable for use as waves'tng oils.

It has been lmown to use for this purpose min- 5 eral, animal or vegetable oils, or their mixtures,

and especially mixtures of mineral oils with fats or vegetable oils containing considerable amounts of oleic acid. The wave=stilling properties of such mixtures were ascribed to the efiectof fats It has now been found that the ability of oil mes to form a strong film on the surface of the water depends mainly on two factors: first,

on the nature of the oil Zorming the base of the wave-stilling composition, and, second, on the presence in said composition of highly capillaryactive organic acids, that is, acids having the property of considerably lowering the inter-facial tensions when added in small amounts, especialail ly such as the higher carhoxylic acids.

With regard to the nature or the oil forming the of the mixture, vegetable and animal oils have the drawback of not flowing easily at winter temperatures and are on this account in- 225 ierior to mineral oils. However, not all mineral oils are equally suitable for the purposes or this invention, since the formed bysome of them on the surface of the water breaks more easily than. that formed by other oils. It has now been 3% found that the strongest film is formed by oils poorest in non-aromatics (those components of the oils which do not react with sulphuric acid) and it is therefore proposed, according to this invention, to use such oils in wave-stilling com- 35 positions some oils, such as certain oils from the East Indies or from California, are naturally poor in non-aromatics, and their distillates and residues 1 may often he used iorwave-stilling oils without iurther treatment. Other oils are richer in nonaromatics, and therefore only some of their fractions maybe used for that purpose. Thus, ex-

tracts obtainedfrom refining mineral oils wlth selective solvents such, for example, as the Edela5 eanu extract, the .nitro-benzol extract, the cresol 55 clally well be used as sources of highly effective wave-stilling oils, when their aromatic components are concentrated by solvent extraction.

- According to the invention, these mineral oils of low non-aromatic content must be preferably ed with some oil-soluble organic acid havinga high interfacial tension, such, for example, as the higher carhom lic acids, like oleic, palmitlc, or stearic acids, which should preferably have at least 16 carbon atoms tothe molecule. Products such as rancid-oil or liquid rosin, containing carboxylic acids, or anyother organic acid having the property of lowering theinterfacial tension, such, for example, as abietic acid, may be equally well used in wave-stilling oil compositions. The quantity in which these acids, or other non-hydrocarhon oil soluble compounds having the property of lowering the interfacial tension, or substances in which they are contained, should he added to wave-stilling compositions, depends chiefly on the characteristics of the oil forming the base of such compositions. In general, when using an oil of low non-aromatic content, as defined above, which possesses good film-forming qualities in itself, it is not necessary to add more than about 5% of, for example, a carboxyllc or ahltic acid to the oil. If the non-aromatic content of the oil is decreased still further, so that, for eple, 60% of its components are soluble in concentratedsulphurlc acid, the quantity of the substance having the property of lowering the interiaclal tension added to such oil may correspongly he decreased.

The following example'of a wave-stilling oil compodtion may be given to illustrate this invention:

Percent Edeleanu extract of kerosene 32 Edeleanu extract of spindle oil 48 Liquid rosi 20 The modesoi operation by which the present wave-stilling oil may be usefully applied are well known to those skilled in navigation.

Although heavy ground waves will not subside with the use of oil, the latter reduces the breaking of waves to a considerable degree. 011 on water, therefore, although incapable of creating a calm, is effective in producing a relatively smooth water-surface within the area of application by preventlng the formation in said area with a selective naphthenic solvent and at least 50% of which is soluble in 98% sulfuric acid, and a carboxyiic acid having the property of lowering the surface tension of water.

2. The composition of claim 1, in which the' 5. A wave-stilling oil composition comprising 80% of a hvdrocarbon oil soluble in liquid 80: and 20% of liquid rosin.

6. A wave-stilling oil composition comprising 80% of a mineral oil distillate soluble in liquid 5 SO: and 20% of liquid rofln.

7. A wave-stilling oil composition consisting of about 32% of liquid 80: soluble portion of kerosene, about 48% of liquid 80: soluble portion of spindle oil, and about 20% of liquid rosin. l0

JOHAN LEONARD VAN DIR MINNI. 

